Velon Behrami believes West Ham must learn to make life easier for themselves by not conceding early goals.

The Hammers have been buoyed by two victories over Christmas, having beaten Stoke and Portsmouth to climb up to 10th place in the Premier League.

Switzerland international Behrami impressed in both games and was delighted by the results.

But he has warned his colleagues they must be focused from the off after letting their opponents get on the scoresheet in the early stages of both post-Christmas fixtures.

After the 2-1 win over Stoke, Behrami said: "I'm happy with the result. We have to carry on doing this and collecting points to push us up the table.

"The character is good but we can't fall behind every time. We can't just switch on when we go behind. We need to switch on from the start because it's not always easy to come back.

"But it's always nice to win these kinds of games."